Blockchain sounds like a way to keep boats anchored, which isn't a bad analogy, considering what the technology purports to do.

While some IT experts herald it as a groundbreaking way of creating a distributed, unchangeable record of transactions, others question the nascent technology's usefulness in the enterprise, which has traditionally relied on centrally-administered databases to secure digital records.

"It's a very hot topic right now," said Zulfikar Ramzan, CTO of RSA Security, a subsidiary of the Dell EMC Infrastructure Solutions Group. "We are definitely getting a lot of inbound inquiries around blockchain and its implication within enterprise environments. I think it's driven largely by the fact that when there's a new technology out there, to some degree people want to be buzzword compliant with the latest and greatest."

The revelation through Wikileaks that the CIA has explored hacking vehicle computer control systems should concern consumers, particularly as more and more cars and trucks roll off assembly lines with autonomous features.

"I think it's a legitimate concern considering all of the computers being added to cars," said Kit Walsh, a staff attorney with the privacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). "There's no reason the CIA or other intelligence agencies or bad actors couldn't use those vulnerabilities to hurt people.

IBM's Watson Health artificial intelligence unit has signed a two-year joint-development agreement with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to explore using blockchain technology to securely share patient data for medical research and other purposes.

IBM Watson Health and the FDA will explore the exchange of patient-level data from several sources, including electronic medical records (EMRs), clinical trials, genomic data, and health data from mobile devices, wearables and the "Internet of Things." The initial focus will be on oncology-related information.

"The healthcare industry is undergoing significant changes due to the vast amounts of disparate data being generated. Blockchain technology provides a highly secure, decentralized framework for data sharing that will accelerate innovation throughout the industry," IBM Watson Health Chief Science Officer Shahram Ebadollahi said in a statement.

Automakers and legislators appear to be coming together on the need for greater cybersecurity for vehicles that are increasingly connected to the internet and controlled by ever-more sophisticated computer systems and software.

Volkswagen today announced it will form a cybersecurity company headed by Yuval Diskin, the former head of Israel's security agency. The company, CyMotive Technologies, will be 40% owned by the German automaker and the rest will be controlled by Diskin and two other former leaders in Israel's Shin Bet intelligence agency.

About 32% of hospitals and 52% of non-acute providers -- such as outpatient clinics, rehabilitation facilities and physicians' offices -- are not encrypting data in transit, according to a new survey.

Additionally, only 61% of acute providers and 48% of non-acute providers are encrypting data at rest.

This "leaves the door wide open to potential tampering and corruption of the data, in addition to a large potential for a breach," the report stated. "If a computer, laptop, thumb drive, or backup were to be stolen, any person would be able to access such information."

HIMSS

The survey, conducted by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), a Chicago-based trade group for the health information technology sector, also revealed that many of the facilities' networks don't even have firewalls.

Illinois' largest hospital chain today agreed to pay a $5.5 million fine by the government for lax data security that led to the exposure of more than 4 million electronic patient records.

The fine against Advocate Health Care Network, the largest ever levied under Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) regulations, is a result of the "extent and duration of the alleged noncompliance."

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights (OCR) began its investigation in 2013, when the healthcare chain submitted three breach notification reports pertaining to separate and distinct incidents involving its subsidiary, Advocate Medical Group (AMG).

Government requests worldwide for user data related to search engine traffic on Google increased 29% from 2014 to 2015, according to the search site's most recent Transparency Report, which was published today.

Google reports on the government requests every six months. In the second half of 2015, it said it received more than 40,000 requests for data related to more than 81,000 user accounts; That compares to the first half of the year when Google received about 35,000 requests related to about 69,000 accounts.

Google

The number of requests from governments and courts around the world for Google to hand over user data.

Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk tweeted Sunday that that he had a "promising call" with Bosch, a German auto-technology supplier that makes the radar sensor for Tesla's all-electric vehicles.

Musk's tweet said that 'significant' upgrades might be possible for Autopilot, but did not specify what those might be. The improvements will eventually be added to vehicles with Autopilot capability via an over-the-air upgrade, Musk said.

Many 3D printers lack cybersecurity features, which presents opportunities to introduce defects as components are being built, a new study shows.

The study, performed by a team of cybersecurity and materials engineers at New York University, concluded that with the growth of cloud-based and decentralized 3D printer production supply chains, there can be "significant risk to the reliability of the product."

Data stolen from a bank quickly becomes useless once the breach is discovered and passcodes are changed. But data from the healthcare industry, which includes both personal identities and medical histories, can live a lifetime.

A modern car has dozens of computers with as much as 100 million lines of code -- and for every 1,000 lines there are as many as 15 bugs that are potential doors for would-be hackers.

With vehicles becoming more automated and connected to the Internet, to other cars and even roadway infrastructure, the number of potential intrusion points is growing exponentially, according to Navigant Research.

While cybersecurity became a top priority for carmakers after a 2015 Jeep Cherokee was hacked last year, the lead time for developing a new car is three to five years and with a service life of 20 years or more, most vehicles have systems that bare vastly outdated compared to the latest consumer electronics devices.

On-demand car service Uber is offering from $3,000 to $10,000 to hackers who can find flaws in its computer and communications systems.

HackerOne, a company that connects white-hat hackers to companies who want to use them to test the security of systems, is running Uber's "bounty program."

The amount of the reward is based on the severity of the flaw discovered by a hackers, i.e., security researchers.

HackerOne has established three categories of rewards; $10,000 for a "critical flaw," $5,000 for a "significant flaw" and $3,000 for "medium issues."

"Chaining of bugs is not frowned upon in any way, we love to see clever exploit chains!" Uber stated in its online challenge. "If you get access to an Uber server, please report it us and we will reward you with an appropriate bounty taking into full consideration the severity of what could be done. Chaining a CSRF vulnerability with a self-XSS? Nice! Using AWS access key to dump user info? Not cool."

Nissan has shut down a popular mobile app for its Leaf electric vehicle after security experts demonstrated they could use the app's insecure APIs to remotely control any vehicles' functions.

"We apologize for the disappointment caused to our Nissan Leaf customers who have enjoyed the benefits of our mobile apps," Nissan wrote in an emailed reply to Computerworld. "However, the quality and seamless operation of our products is paramount."

Nissan

The Nissan Leaf and the remote app that allowed hackers to access any vehicle for which they had the VIN.